First Edition: March 17, 2015

Kaiser Health News: HHS: Health Law Has Helped Insure 16.4 Million
A total of 16.4 million non-elderly adults have gained health insurance coverage since the Affordable Care Act became law five years ago this month – a “historic” reduction in the number of uninsured, the Department of Health and Human Services said Monday. Those gaining insurance since 2010 include 2.3 million young adults aged 18 to 26 who were able to remain on their parents’ health insurance plus another 14.1 million adults who obtained coverage through expansions of the Medicaid program, new marketplace coverage and other sources, according to HHS’ report. (Rovner, 3/16)

Kaiser Health News: Rural Hospitals, One Of The Cornerstones Of Small Town Life, Face Increasing Pressure
Despite residents’ concerns and a continuing need for services, the 25-bed hospital that served this small East Texas town for more than 25 years closed its doors at the end of 2014, joining the ranks of dozens of other small rural hospitals that have been unable to weather the punishment of a changing national health care environment. For the high percentages of elderly and uninsured patients who live in rural areas, closures mean longer trips for treatment and uncertainty during times of crisis. 'I came to the emergency room when I had panic attacks,' said George Taylor, 60, a retired federal government employee. 'It was very soothing and the staff was great. I can’t imagine Mount Vernon without a hospital." (Gugliotta, 3/17)

The New York Times: House Republican Budget Overhauls Medicare And Repeals The Health Law
House Republicans on Tuesday will unveil a proposed budget for 2016 that partly privatizes Medicare, turns Medicaid into block grants to the states, repeals the Affordable Care Act and reaches balance in 10 years, challenging Republicans in Congress to make good on their promises to deeply cut federal spending. (Weisman, 3/16)

Los Angeles Times: Republicans Struggle To Present Unified Front Over 2016 Budget
But faced with pressure from fiscal conservatives for a tough approach that cuts across all aspects of the federal government, Republican leaders will be hard-pressed to produce a document that can unify its ranks. Whether House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) will be able to usher a budget to passage remains uncertain. The party’s budget problems are the latest challenge for the Republican-led Congress, which swept into power promising not only to cut spending but also to use the budget process to attack President Obama's top priorities, including the Affordable Care Act. (Mascaro, 3/16)

The Wall Street Journal: House Near A Fix For Medicare Payments
House leaders are closing in on a $200 billion package to permanently fix a flawed formula for calculating Medicare reimbursements to doctors and other health-care providers, but the emerging deal has come under fire from lawmakers in both parties. Under the agreement taking shape in talks between House Speaker John Boehner (R., Ohio) and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.), Congress would avoid a 21% cut in doctor payments that is scheduled to take effect April 1. (Hughes, 3/16)

The New York Times: Data On Health Law Shows Largest Drop In Uninsured In 4 Decades, The U.S. Says
The Obama administration said on Monday that 16.4 million uninsured people had gained health coverage since major provisions of the Affordable Care Act began to take effect in 2010, driving the largest reduction in the number of uninsured in about 40 years. Since the first open enrollment period began in October 2013, the officials said, the proportion of adults lacking insurance has dropped to 13.2 percent, from 20.3 percent. Sylvia Mathews Burwell, the secretary of health and human services, said the data revealed “the largest reduction in the uninsured in four decades.” (Pear, 3/16)

The Wall Street Journal: Uninsured Rate Down Sharply Since Health Law Was Enacted
A report released by the Department of Health and Human Services, based largely on Gallup survey data, found that about 16.4 million people have gained health coverage since the law’s passage. That number includes 14.1 million adults who have gained coverage since the beginning of open enrollment in October 2013. It also includes younger adults who were allowed to remain on their parents’ plans until age 26. The total also includes people who signed up for Medicaid, the state-federal health-care program for the poor, under an ACA provision that let states change eligibility requirements so more people above the poverty level would qualify. (Armour, 3/16)

The Associated Press: Obama Administration: 16.4M Have Gained Health Insurance
But measuring a different way, an independent expert who took into account insurance losses during some of those years had a much lower estimate: 9.7 million. The Department of Health and Human Services estimated that 16.4 million adults have gained health insurance since the law's major coverage provisions began taking effect in 2010. The lower independent estimate is based on a large daily survey called the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index. There seems to be no dispute that Obama's law has significantly reduced the number of uninsured Americans. The question is, by how much? (Alonso-Zaldivar and Pace, 3/16)

USA Today: Uninsured Rates Drop Dramatically Under Obamacare
Edmund Haislmaier, senior research fellow for health policy at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think-tank, said using survey data and extrapolating figures is "kind of a backwards way" of looking at the reduction in the uninsured. A better way is to examine insurer data, he said. For the first three quarters of last year, he said, insurer data showed a net growth of 5.8 million people in the individual insurance market, both on and off exchanges. He said that was offset by a 4.9 million-person decrease in the employer-insured market — meaning net growth in the private insurance market was less than a million people. Government data cited by the Kaiser Family Foundation showed that from summer 2013 to 2014, there was a net increase of 8.7 million people enrolled in Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program. (Ungar, 3/16)

The Washington Post: Affordable Care Act Adds 16.4 Million To Health Insurance Rolls
The Latino uninsured rate dropped by 12.3 percentage points between the first quarter of 2014 and the same period in 2015 as 4.2 million adults gained coverage. That ethnic group, however, continues to have the lowest rate of insurance coverage. About 2.3 million African Americans enrolled, dropping that group’s uninsured rate by 9.2 percentage points, and 6.6 million whites obtained coverage, a decline of 5.3 percentage points. (Bernstein, 3/16)

The New York Times: Obama Plans To Use Week To Press Economic Case
Even though Republicans control both houses of Congress, Mr. Obama is using the considerable tools at his disposal to try to build public support for his own agenda. Just as Republicans were preparing to unveil a budget that would propose to repeal Mr. Obama’s signature health care law, the administration released new figures showing that 16.4 million Americans had obtained health insurance since it took effect. The growth of health care costs has slowed over the same period. (Hirschfeld Davis, 3/16)

The Associated Press: Improper Payments By Federal Agencies Reach A Record $125B
Federal agencies set a new record for improper payments last year, shelling out $125 billion in questionable benefits after years of declines. The payments included tax credits for families that didn't qualify, Medicare payments for treatments that might not have been necessary, and unemployment benefits for people who were actually working. (3/17)

The Wall Street Journal's Pharmalot: Novartis Pays $12.6M Fine For Giving Inaccurate Pricing Data To Medicare
In what the federal government says is the largest such settlement ever reached, Sandoz has agreed to pay $12.64 million to resolve allegations that it misrepresented pricing data on medicines that were provided to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. (Silverman, 3/16)

The Wall Street Journal: Warning Prompts Shift In Surgeries On Women
Gynecologists in the U.S. have changed the way they perform hysterectomies now that they no longer can readily use a popular medical device that was found to spread hidden cancers in some women, according to doctors, hospitals and a new study. While some surgeons remain dismayed about new limits imposed on the tool, called a laparoscopic power morcellator, concerns that its loss would lead to major problems or a dramatic shift to open surgery don’t appear to have materialized. Instead, doctors say they have turned to alternatives for one of the most common operations performed on American women. (Jennifer Levitz, 3/16)

NPR: Vaccination Gaps Helped Fuel Disneyland Measles Spread
California has been dealing with a big measles outbreak since December, when cases emerged among visitors to Disneyland in Orange County. Measles spread quickly afterward. As of Friday, the state had confirmed 133 measles cases among residents since December. Of the people who got sick and for whom the state could determine vaccination status, 57 people hadn't been vaccinated against measles and 20 people had had at least one shot of the vaccine. (Hensley, 3/16)